Enterprise Products Partners Produces Yet Another Consistent Earnings Result in the Second Quarter

You certainly can't fault Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) for being inconsistent. This past quarter, the company kept its streak of distribution raises alive while retaining excess cash to reinvest in the business. What is even more surprising about this streak is that the company's results have barely missed a beat during the current commodity downturn. Let's take a look at Enterprise's most recent results and see how the company has held its serve throughout this long downturn in the oil and gas market.

The trends that we have seen over the past couple of quarters played out in the second quarter as well. Lower commodity prices and lower volumes in certain segments have been offset by new projects coming on line and the associated fees with those businesses. Again, it was by no means a great quarter, but Enterprise's ability to generate cash flow at steady rates in the current market is a testament to the company's strengths. Here's a breakdown of the company's results by business segment.

This will likely be the last quarter where we will get results from Enterprise's offshore pipelines and services business. The entity was sold in the third quarter of last year, and the company has discontinued its operations.

What happened with Enterprise Products Partners this past quarter

Total capital spending for the quarter was $884 million, and $600 million in projects ended construction and were brought into commercial service in the second quarter. New assets of note were the company's South Eddy natural gas processing plant in the Delaware Basin and over 2 million barrels of oil storage at its Houston and Beaumont marine terminals.

Management and the board approved another 5.3% increase in quarterly distribution. This is the 48th consecutive quarter that Enterprise has increased its payout to shareholders

Enterprise's distribution coverage ratio for the quarter was 1.2 and resulted in retaining $200 million in cash to pay for capital investments. So far this year, the company has generated $428 million in excess of its distribution that has gone back into the business.

What management had to say

The statements from Enterprise CEO James Teague in press releases and conference calls rarely contain surprises. This quarter, though, if you do a little digging, there is one detail that pops out. (I've bolded the part of note.)

Here's what really stands out in this statement. Just last quarter, the company said that it had $4.2 billion in new projects slated to come on line through 2017 and 2018. So if we include the $600 million that were brought into service in the prior quarter, that means the company has added another $1.6 billion in new projects during the most recent quarter alone. This is pretty promising for investors, considering that other larger pipeline companies have actually been trimming or pushing back their project schedules.

10-second takeaway

Even though commodity prices are still low and some customers are using Enterprise's services a little less, the company has been able to maintain a steady growth pace throughout this downturn thanks to a stream of new projects coming on line. By the looks of it, the company will continue this trend at least into 2018 based on management's statements. Also, if oil and gas prices were to pick up somewhat, Enterprise could be in store for some strong results.

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